I had the best view in the world.
Watching Aira try to surf.
When I asked her what she wanted to do and she said surf, it was settled. Even though she didn’t have a surfboard… simply solved. I bought her one. And we came to the beach. A different part of the beach though. To avoid Julia’s house. And avoid her mother.
I still hadn’t gotten the answers to my questions but watching her in a bikini, paddling on a surfboard with her ass glistening from the water and the sun, it was a damn good day to be alive.
Not to mention when she turned and I saw her breasts pressed against the surfboard, spilling out of her top.
I never thought I would be so thankful for a bag of clothes left in my bedroom, you know? Hell, it was like Aira was already slowly trying to move in with me. What the fuck did finishing school actually mean to us? There was no reason to hold back and wait.
Except for the reality you’re ignoring, Wes.
“Keep going,” I called out to Aira.
She looked over her shoulder and waited for a wave to come. When one started to build, she kicked forward and moved with the wave. She was amazing to watch. And the way the water kissed her body drove me a little crazy.
I took a drag of my cigarette as she jumped up on the board.
Yeah, I definitely watched the way her breasts bounced in the bikini top.
She went with the wave and lasted about five seconds before falling down to the water. The wave smashed all around her and I hated that feeling in my chest. A split second where my heart felt like it stopped, waiting to make sure she was okay.
Damn, it proved how much I loved her.
She popped up out of the water a second later, laughing and dripping everywhere.
She walked toward me, soaked.
I flicked my cigarette behind me.
Aira reached for my face in a move she always did that killed me a little.
“Come in the water,” she whispered. “For me.”
“I don’t have a bathing suit, darling,” I said.
“You don’t need one.”
Her hands touched my shirt.
I stepped back and took my shirt off.
“Fuck yes,” she yelled.
I lifted my eyebrow.
She shrugged. “Sorry. I just like it.”
I looked at her chest. “Yeah. Well, I like it too.”
“Then come get it.”
She walked backward into the water. She playfully bent forward to take the strap off her ankle. She tossed her surfboard to the sand then kept moving back into the water.
I stepped out of my shoes and socks. I put my phone, keys, money, everything else from my jean pockets into one of my shoes.
I hadn’t been in the ocean since…
Azel.
As I walked into the water, a rush of anger and guilt came over me.
But then I looked at Aira and it all washed away.
With a grin on my face I dove forward at her.
She let out a scream as my arms wrapped around her.
I turned and pulled, taking us both under the water as a small wave crashed over us.
When we both came up, she was in my arms.
Wet and slippery.
And our lips instantly found one another.
A wet, salty, ocean filled kiss.
“You’re lucky I love you,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“What were you doing with a list of names?” I asked.
Aira kicked away from me.
We just stayed there, a couple feet apart, swimming in the gentle waves. In the middle of the day when we were supposed to be in class.
“I made a list of everyone who hates me,” she said. “Just trying to figure this out.”
“How did Miss Carson get it?”
“My mother. She thinks I’m going through something dark.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. “Your mother…”
“Like you said. She’s sober. So she’s floating. Right into my bedroom. She watches too much TV. She must have thought it was a list of people I wanted to hurt. And of course they take that seriously. So now it looks like I’m the one up to no good.”
“Well, you kind of are, Aira,” I said. “You’re skipping school to hang with me.”
“That’s worse than any list I could ever make,” she said.
“That’s right. And you just don’t care.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” she said.
I slipped my hands to her waist and pulled her close to me again.
My lips gently touched hers but we didn’t actually kiss.
“Thank you for being in the water with me,” she whispered. “I know how hard this is for you.”
“You want to feel something hard, darling?”
“Trust me, I already do,” she said.
I curled my lip and growled.
She was the deadly one, not me.
I kissed her, but only once. “Did you throw that list out?”
“Ripped it to shreds,” she said. “Hey. Who was fighting?”
“That was Leo. I told him to shove someone around to get Henders’s attention.”
“Bad ass move, Wes.”
“Anything for you.”
“What are we going to do now? I mean, with everything happening.”
“The same thing we are now. Whoever this is… they’ll either give up or want more attention and fuck up.”
“Or maybe they’ll actually come after me for real.”
I kissed her again.
That was something I didn't want to think about.
* * *
“I want everyone to leave here full and smiling,” Cherry announced.
She carried a giant bowl of taco meat and placed it in the center of the table.
“Hey, Cherry, how about a beer?” Walker asked.
“How about a foot up your ass?” Cherry said without hesitation.
“He’d like that too much,” Ryker said.
“Fuck you,” Walker yelled.
I pushed away from the table and grabbed for Aira’s hand. “Watch this…”
Cherry looked at the bowl of taco meat, shook her head, and walked to the kitchen. She grabbed a pineapple shaped pepper shaker and brought it to the table.
She placed it in front of Walker.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“Pepper. For your mouth. For what you said.” Cherry nodded.
“Am I a kid now?”
Cherry grabbed Walker’s face.
His eyes went wide.
“Crap, Walker, now you did it,” Ryker said.
Cherry grabbed the pepper shaker and held it over Walker’s mouth.
“We do not use that kind of language at my table,” she said. “Never.”
She shook the pepper shaker and little black flakes flooded Walker’s mouth.
He groaned and started to cough.
I laughed.
And when I laughed, so did everyone else.
Jett and Ma started talking about how Cherry used to do it to them.
Ryker, Leo, and Flynn all grabbed their tongues and tried to talk, mimicking the sounds Walker was making.
“You don’t talk out of line at her table like that,” I said to Aira. “Sometimes she’ll let it go. But when she wants everyone happy, you better be happy.”
“I can see that,” Aira said.
"Are you happy?” I asked her.
Aira’s eyes went to Noelle and then back to me. “I guess so.”
“Thank you for coming here tonight.”
“I’m just here for the tacos. And to see Cherry.”
“You could talk to her,” I said. “Noelle. She didn’t do anything to you.”
“You sure about that?” Aira asked.
“I’m positive about that,” I said. “I know the way things have looked and there’s nothing I can say, darling, other than to trust me.”
“See, that’s the crazy part, Wes,” Aira said. “
I don’t want to trust you but I secretly do.”
“More secrets, huh?” I asked with a wink.
Aira rolled her eyes.
“Anyone else care for some pepper?” Cherry asked.
“Wes does,” Aira blurted out.
“What?” I snapped.
“Weslee, don’t you dare ever raise your voice to Aira,” Ma said, pointing at me.
“I’ll break your jaw,” Jett said.
“I didn’t yell at anyone,” I said. “She’s messing around.”
“No, I’m not,” Aira said. “I won’t say what he said, Cherry. It was so bad.”
Cherry wiggled the pepper shaker in her hand, staring at me.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “You want to put pepper in my mouth? Do it.”
I stuck my tongue out.
“See, this is why I never punished him,” Cherry said. “Smart mouth would always go along with anything I said. He was a special one.”
“Aw, that’s cute,” Ryker said. “Cherry’s special boy.”
I showed Ryker my middle finger.
“Hey, look at that,” Walker yelled. “Middle finger,”
“Are you snitching?” Cherry asked Walker. “You know what happens to snitches?”
“They get stitches,” Walker said. “I know, I know.”
Cherry put the pepper shaker down. “No, Walker. They get their legs broken. And their fingers cut off.”
Walker’s face turned white.
“Hey, Cherry, this, uh, this taco feast looks great,” Ma said. “I don’t want to waste it.”
“You can chop off Walker’s fingers later,” I said. “He doesn’t need them anyway.”
“Now that we have that settled, let’s sit and eat,” Cherry said.
Everyone was already seated but nobody dared to point that out.
We all dove in, stacking our plates with tacos.
I appreciated the calmness Cherry provided. Even if nobody at the table was quiet nor calm. But it was just Cherry’s house. What it meant. The memories. The sense of family and a feeling that was almost like protection.
Plus, having Aira by my side made things a little easier too.
Even if hell waited outside for us.
“Aira, forgive me for asking, but how are things with your old house?” Cherry asked.
“Actually, I have no idea,” Aira said. “Haven’t heard anything.”
“Such a shame,” Cherry said. “Probably something foolish. Not that it makes it any better.”
“I try not to think about it too much,” Aira said.
“We have enough going on as it is,” I said.
“What’s going on now?” Cherry asked.
“Nothing,” Jett said. “Wes’s world of drama.”
“Your world too, Jett,” Walker said. “Your truck windows were busted. Not Wes’s.”
“Truck windows?” Cherry asked.
Jett growled. “Walker… really?”
“Sorry,” he said.
“Nothing,” I said. “Cherry, someone got tough and put a brick through Jett’s windows. It was my fault. My business.”
“Did you find the prick?” Cherry asked.
“We handled it,” Jett said. “Dusty came over to-”
Cherry slapped the table. “That’s not how you handle it.”
I looked at Aira and grinned.
She smiled back at me.
“You sure it wasn’t some girl you made angry?” Cherry asked.
“Oh, never that,” Jett said. “I would have used a fake name if she was that crazy.”
“Oh, Jett,” Ma said. “Really?”
“Sure. I judge how crazy she looks before I give my name.”
“And this is why you’ll never settle,” Cherry said. “Stupid.”
“Nah,” Jett said. “I’ll settle when I’m ready.”
When you get the balls to talk to Julia again.
But I wouldn’t bring that up.
“I love crazy ex stories,” Walker said.
“That’s because you’ve never had a girlfriend,” I said. “So you’ve never had an ex.”
“Hey, I don’t need a girlfriend for what I enjoy,” Walker said.
“He’s in love with his hands,” Ryker said.
“Ah, come on,” Noelle said. “We’re eating with our hands. He touched the shells.”
“I’m clean,” Walker said.
Everyone started to laugh.
“You’re far from clean,” Aira said.
“You’re whatever comes after dirty,” Noelle said.
“Why, do you like it dirty, Noe?” Walker asked.
“Hey,” Cherry yelled.
“Watch yourself,” I warned. “She’ll cut you in your sleep.”
“Which one?” Walker asked, referring to both Cherry and Noelle.
“Hopefully both,” Aira said.
“No, come on though,” Walker said. “What’s another crazy ex story? Someone has to have a good one. Didn’t some chick refuse to get off your ride, Wes?”
I cringed.
I didn’t want to talk about my past.
“Walker… shut the fu-”
“No, tell the story,” Aira said. “It’s okay. I want to hear it.”
“So do I,” Ma said.
“It was some crazy chick from BFH. She wasn’t a girlfriend or anything like that.”
“But she was something,” Ryker said.
“Was that the one who wanted to get your name tattooed on her wrist?” Noelle asked.
“Tattooed, huh?” Aira asked.
“She was out there,” I said. “I’ll admit that. But nothing more. When I told her there was nothing between us, she sprawled across my ride and refused to get off. Cops had to come and take her away.”
“And that’s how you end up when you’re with Wes,” Jett said. “In cuffs, talking to yourself.”
“Thanks for that,” Aira said.
“Jett, don’t be like that,” Ma said. “Aira is an amazing girl. She’d bury Wes before he could hurt her.”
“I’d bury Wes if he did anything to her,” Cherry chimed in.
“Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “Let’s ease up on me a little.”
“Okay, let’s be fair,” Walker said. “Aira. Give us a crazy ex story.”
“No, that’s okay,” she said.
“Oh, I want to hear one,” I said. “Give it your best.”
Aira looked at me. She shook her head. “I’m good.”
“Come on,” I said. “I won’t get too jealous. I won’t go beat anyone up.”
“Well, you kind of already did that,” she said.
“Who did you beat up?” Ma asked.
“I’ve never been in a fight my entire life,” I said.
Everyone laughed again.
“He beat up my ex,” Aira said. “When we went to look at my house. I saw my ex with my old best friend. And they were probably together long before that.”
“I didn’t really beat him up,” I said. “Just sort of scared the shit out of him.”
“Language,” Cherry yelled.
“Get the pepper,” Walker said.
“Here, have some,” I said.
I reached for the pepper shaker and flung it across the table.
It hit Walker right in the middle of his forehead.
“Ow,” Walker said. “Asshole.”
“That’s it,” Cherry said as she stood up.
“Oh, Cherry, please, not again,” Walker said.
“Too late,” Jett said.
“Open up,” Ma said. “Poor kid… he’ll eventually learn.”
I reached for Aira’s hand and slowly stood up.
I tugged at her to follow me.
We left the table to the sound of Walker pleading for his life not to have pepper put in his mouth again. That was a fight he was going to lose.
Cherry was queen, master, ruler, god, in her own house.
Outside on the porch, I shared a cigarette with Aira.
And
fuck, was that sexy.
Not exactly good for us, but whatever.
“Hey, are you okay?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere, Wes,” she admitted. “I don’t want to feel this way.”
She took a drag of the cigarette and stared at me.
I tasted her smoke and I took the cigarette from her.
I flicked it off the porch and touched her face.
“You’re not going anywhere, darling… not without me.”
Chapter 22
Aira
I stood in the waterfall shower and put my head back, smiling, washing away all the evidence of Wes. I missed his touch. I missed his body. I missed the midnight hours where we’d talk, flirt, laugh, and let things get crazy.
But it was another day and I had no idea what to expect.
The night came and went without anything happening.
When I turned the shower off and opened the glass door, Wes was standing there, staring at me as I reached for a towel.
“See something you like?” I asked.
“Oh, fuck, darling. I can’t think straight.”
“You know it would only be fair if you did the same for me,” I said.
I said it as a joke.
But next thing I knew, Wes was dropping his jeans.
I gasped when he stepped out of them as he ripped his shirt up over his head.
My eyes were looking down.
Way down.
My eyes following the length…
Ohmygod.
It made me shiver when I thought about all the things he did to me.
Wes walked toward me without an ounce of doubt, not that he needed any. It was almost a little unfair the way he was built. Cut and toned, muscles on muscles, everything showing. Lines that touched lines, forcing my eyes to look down no matter how hard I tried not to.
He pulled the towel out of my hand and dropped it to the floor.
His right hand slid around to my wet back and he pressed his dry, hard body against me.
I let out a sighing breath as he forced me to step back into the shower.
He turned the water on and I was officially showering with Weslee Jackson.
There was a voice in my head that screamed with joy. That naughty voice that used to play these kinds of things through my head when I didn’t even understand what they actually meant.
Wes held me against him as we stood under the rushing warm water.
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS: a hidden creek high novel Page 19
